Two Sanrio stars slip on sumo loincloths to celebrate the first nig sumo tournament of the year.

Some people like to ease into the new year, taking it easy for the first few weeks and not really revving up their work schedules until February. Not so for the Japan Sumo Association, which every year in January holds the Hatsu Basho, or first Tokyo Grand Sumo Tournament. This year, though, the sumo wrestlers and support staff will be joined by someone else with a tireless work ethic, Hello Kitty.

Sanrio has announced a collaboration with the Japan Sumo Association, featuring four of the kawaii design house’s most popular characters: Hello Kitty, Kuromi, Pom Pom Purin, and Cinnamoroll. Given his rotund physique, Pom Pom Purin doesn’t look at all out of place wearing sumo’s traditional kesho mawashi combined loincloth and apron. Joining him in sumo wrestler attire is Cinnamoroll, who’s usually depicted as quite a bit smaller than Pom Pom Purin. Professional sumo doesn’t have different weight classes, though, and if the two so desire, they’re appropriately dressed to step into the ring and add a new aspect to their battle for Sanrio supremacy.

Kitty-chan and Kuromi, meanwhile, will be forgoing loincloths and instead donning the the garb of a yobidashi and gyoji, respectively. Yobisashi play a part in assembling the wrestling ring for sumo tournaments, but their most visible role is that of announcer, calling wrestlers by name to the ring for their next bout, a task Hello Kitty, who’s all about bringing big groups of friends together, is well-suited for. Meanwhile, Kuromi, who unabashedly enjoys being in control, is dressed in the lavish kimono and hat of a gyoji, the in-ring referee of a sumo match.

The merchandise lineup includes drawstring pouches, with the double-sided design pictured above, hand towels…

…and face and bath towels.

For those of the opinion that such cute characters absolutely need to be hugged, there’s also a series of cushions, with individual characters on one side and the whole quartet on the other.

Finally, the kesho mawashi serve as inspiration for these cooking/cleaning aprons, which will probably be more useful than actual sumo loincloths in most people’s daily lives.

In addition to being adorable, the lineup is all affordably priced, with the drawstring pouch just 1,100 yen (US$7.20) and even the most expensive items, the cushions, just 2,310 yen, so nothing here is going to put a sumo wrestler-sized dent in fans’ budgets.

The Sanrio sumo items won’t be offered in regular stores, but instead will be offered at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan stadium, the site of the January tournament, while the competition is taking place from January 11 to 25. They’ll also be available for online purchase through online sumo merch marketplace SuMALL here starting January 7.

Source: PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, SuMALL
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